Kyu Sakamoto

Kyu Sakamoto
Background information
Native name	坂本 九
Birth name	Hisashi Oshima (大島 九, Ōshima Hisashi)
Also known as	Kyūchan
Born	(1941-12-10)10 December 1941 Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Died	Osutaka-no-one Ueno, Gunma, Japan
Genres	Pop, kayōkyoku, J-pop
Occupation(s)	singer, songwriter, actor, TV personality
Instruments	vocals, guitar, piano, trumpet
Years active	1958–1959 (The Drifters) 1959–1960 (Danny Iida & his paradise kings) 1961–1985 (solo)
Labels	Toshiba-EMI, Capitol (US and Canada)
Associated acts	Danny Iida and the Paradise Kings, Kayoko Moriyama
Website	www.sakamoto-kyu.com

Kyu Sakamoto (坂本 九, Sakamoto Kyū, born Hisashi Oshima (大島 九, Ōshima Hisashi), 10 December 1941 – 12 August 1985) was a Japanese singer and actor, best known outside Japan for his international hit song "Ue o Muite Arukō" (known as "Sukiyaki" in English-speaking markets), which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies. It reached number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in June 1963, making Sakamoto the first Asian recording artist to have a number one song on the chart. Sakamoto died on August 12, 1985, in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.

Life and career

Early years: 1941–1949

Childhood in Kawasaki and Kasama

Kyu Sakamoto with his sister Yachiyo Endo in 1956

Kyu Sakamoto was born in 1941, in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture to Hiroshi Sakamoto, a cargo tender officer, and his wife Iku Oshima. He was the youngest of his father's nine children, which is why he was nicknamed Kyūchan (九ちゃん), meaning "nine". It is also an alternate reading of the kanji of his given name Hisashi (九).

In the summer of 1944, during the air raids over the greater Tokyo area, his mother took her children to live with their grandparents in rural Kasama. They moved back to Kawasaki in 1949. Hiroshi Sakamoto's company had been closed by the American occupation forces and he opened a restaurant.

1956–1958

Teenage life

In 1956, Kyu Sakamoto's parents divorced. Iku was given custody over her minor children and they adopted the surname Oshima. The older children kept their father's name. Kyu started playing in high school, but he soon began singing. He joined the Japanese pop-band The Drifters in 1958.

First recordings (1959–1960)

JVC and Toshiba Records

In May 1958, when Sakamoto was 16 years old he joined the Japanese pop-band The Drifters that had been formed three years earlier. Sakamoto was unhappy about his position in the band as second singer and this often led to fights with the other members. His big breakthrough as a band member came 26 August 1958 when he sang at the annual music festival "Western Carnival" at the Nichigeki hall. After a quarrel that ended in a fight with two of the other members, Sakamoto left the band in November 1958.

For a short period of time, Sakamoto returned to his studies and focused on entering the university. But in December 1958, he joined his classmate's Hisahiko Iida's band called "Danny Iida and Paradise King". He replaced Hiroshi Mizuhara as singer. Sakamoto's career took off, he ended his studies and left school. In June 1959, the band got a record deal at the JVC record company. "Danny Iida and Paradise King" and Sakamoto released their song "Kanashiki rokujussai" in August 1960, which became a great hit. In the time after they released a number of songs that became very popular. This led to Sakamoto obtaining a record deal at the Toshiba Records company and left "Danny Iida & Paradise King" aiming at a solo career.

Solo career (1961–1985)

Debut album and international success (1961–1964)

Sakamoto's solo career was inaugurated with the love song "Ue o Muite Arukō" written by Rokusuke Ei and Hachidai Nakamura. The song was first heard on the NHK entertainment program "Yume de Aimashou" on 16 August 1961. It was a great success and was released on a red vinyl on October 15. It remained the highest selling record until January 1962, three months after its release.

His international breakthrough came in 1963 during a visit to Japan by Louis Benjamin, owner of British record company Pye Records. Hearing the song several times, Benjamin decided to bring it back to England. Due to concerns that the title would be too hard for English-speakers to pronounce or remember, the song was renamed "Sukiyaki". The new title was intended to sound both catchy and distinctively Japanese, but had no actual connection to the song.

Initially, Pye Records released an instrumental version of the song recorded by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen. After it went on to become a hit in England, His Master's Voice (HMV) released the original which also sold well, reaching sixth place in HMV's most sold records. Capitol Records released the song in the USA with the alternate title, eventually selling over one million copies, and remaining number one on the "Billboard Hot 100 number one single" for three weeks in June, 1963.

After the international success of "Sukiyaki", Sakamoto went on a world tour that lasted from summer of 1963 to the beginning of 1964. Among the countries he visited were the United States (including Hawaii), Germany, and Sweden. During his time in the U.S., he was invited to appear in several television shows. On 13 August 1963, he landed at Los Angeles International Airport and was a guest of The Steve Allen Show that evening. He was supposed to be a guest on The Ed Sullivan Show as well, but this appearance was canceled due to a scheduling conflict with the production of his upcoming movie, Kyu-chan katana o nu ite.

Kyu Sakamoto had only one other song reach the U.S. charts, "China Nights (Shina no Yoru)" (Capitol 5016), which peaked at number 58 in 1963. His only American album, Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits (Capitol 10349), peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart (now known as the Billboard 200) in 1963 and remained on the Pop Albums chart for 17 weeks.

He received his sole foreign Gold Record of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) by Capitol Records on 15 May 1964 in Hotel Okura, Tokyo.

Later appearances

During the 1964 Summer Olympics, he was featured on the Swedish TV-program Hylands hörna broadcast live from Tokyo.

In 1968, Sakamoto and Hachidai Nakamura participated in the international singing contest "Festival Internacional da Canção" in Rio de Janeiro with the song "Sayounara, sayounara".

Marriage and family

In 1971, Sakamoto married Japanese actress Yukiko Kashiwagi. The couple had two daughters, Hanako and Maiko.

Death

On August 12, 1985, Kyu Sakamoto died in the crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123, the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history.

He is interred at Chōkoku-ji Temple in Minato, Tokyo.

Legacy

His most popular song, "Ue o Muite Arukou" ("I look up when I walk") remains the only Japanese song to reach number one on the Billboard pop charts in the United States, a position it maintained for three weeks in 1963. It was also the first ever Japanese language song to enter the UK charts, though it only climbed to number 6 with no further chart entries.

"Sukiyaki" has been covered multiple times over the years, beginning with the instrumental by Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen. Sukiyaki was also covered as an instrumental, by English pianist Johnny Pearson, during 1982. Well-known English-language cover versions include a 1981 cover by A Taste of Honey and a 1995 cover by 4 P.M., both of which made the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. In 1989, Selena's self-titled album contained a Spanish translation of the Taste of Honey cover which was released as a single in 1990. The English lyrics have also appeared in whole or in part in songs by performers including Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh (1985's "La Di Da Di"), Salt-N-Pepa (1985's "The Show Stopper"), Snoop Dogg (1993's "Lodi Dodi", a "La Di Da Di" cover), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (1995's "Bless Da 40 Oz."), Raphael Saadiq (1995's "Ask of You", another to make the Hot 100), Mary J. Blige (1997's "Everything") and Will Smith (1999's "So Fresh", featuring Slick Rick).

An American version by Jewel Akens with different American lyrics written for it. Titled "My First Lonely Night (Sukiyaki)" in 1966, the song reached #82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

On 16 March 1999, Japan Post issued a stamp commemorating Kyu Sakamoto and "Sukiyaki". The stamp is listed in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue as Japan number 2666 with a face value of 50 yen.

"Sukiyaki" is also the song played on the platform before the train doors close at Tomobe Station in Kasama, Ibaraki, Japan.

Wii Music includes "Sukiyaki" in the "handbell harmony" section.

"Ue o Muite Arukou" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2011 Studio Ghibli film From Up on Poppy Hill. In one scene, an animated Kyu Sakamoto is seen performing the song on the television.

An instrumental version of "Ue o Muite Arukou" was used in episode 2 of the Amazon series "The Man in the High Castle", a reimaginning of life in the United States had the United States lost World War II. In the series, set in 1963, the year the song debuted, Japan is given control over the West Coast, and "Ue o Muite Arukou" can be heard playing in a bar.

Discography

• Sukiyaki and Other Japanese Hits (1963)
• Very Best of Kyu Sakamoto (1994)
• Kyu Sakamoto Memorial Best (2005)
• Kyu Sakamoto CD & DVD The Best (2005)

Filmography

• Takekurabe (1955)
• Everything Goes Wrong (1960)
• Kigeki: ekimae danchi (1961)
• Shichiji ni aimashō (1963)
• Clap your hands when you are happy (1964)
• Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon (1965)
• Kyūchan's Big Dream (1967)
• Tokkan (1975)

Documentaries

• Ue o Muite Arukō: Sakamoto Kyu Monogatari (2005)

Legacy

• Kyu Sakamoto Memorial Hall
• 6980 Kyusakamoto, an outer main-belt asteroid, was named in his honor.

External links

• Official website (Japanese)
• Kyu Sakamoto on Facebook (Japanese)
• Kyu Sakamoto at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview of Yukiko Kashiwagi on YouTube, (Japanese) watching clip of Sakamoto on Steve Allen Show (1963)